Infinitely variable-gear for driving gun mounts



Feb. 19, 1952 STADELMANN 2,586,107

I'NFINITELY VARIABLE-GEAR FOR DRIVING GUN MOUNTS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledJuly 6, 1949 //WEN TOR il/ZMLF J 7740LMAIVIY Feb. 19, 1952 R. STADELMANN2,586,107

INFINITELY VARIABLE-GEAR FOR DRIVING GUN MOUNTS Filed July 6, 1949 3Sheets-Sheet s XUMAFJMDHMAM/ Adan/44 i Patented Feb. 19, 1952 INFINITELYVARIABLE-GEAR. FOR DRIVING GUN MOUNTS Rudolf Stadelmann,

7 Claims.

The present invention relates to an infinitely variable gear device fordriving gun-mounts which permits of an infinitely variable drive withcontrol forces of slight magnitude.

Infinitely variable gears for driving gunmounts are already known inwhich the variable speed of drive is achieved by supplying to adifferential gear a constant rotary speed from a drive motor and acontrol movement produced in a speed variator. The drawback of thisknown arrangement resides in the fact that, to produce the controlmovement, i. e., the variable rotary speed to be supplied to thedifierential gear, a substantial expenditure of power is required. Inthese'known gears the'entire turning moment is transmitted by thevariable speed gear, the result of this being that these types of driveare extremely heavy and bulky and can therefore be used only for heavygun-mounts and for guns of large calibre. In every case, theseinfinitely variable gears necessitate an extremely large source ofpower, so that for this reason alone their use with lighter gun-mountswould be uneconomical. Finally, there is the further fact that, owing tothe large bulk of these gears, separate drives with separate sources ofpower become necessary for the movement in train and in elevationrespectively. The purpose of the present invention is, as stated, toprovide a gear device which is extremely simple in its structuraldesign, occupies little space and consumesbut little power in producingthe variable speed to be supplied to the difierential gear. A furtherpurpose of the invention is to provide means whereby both the elevationand the train gear may be driven from a single power unit.

The infinitely variable gear device for driving gun-mounts, which geardevice exhibits in the known manner a difierential to which both aconstant rotary speed and a variable rotary speed serving for controlpurposes are suppliedand in which :the variablespeed is produced in avariable speed gear (speed variator), is characterized. by the fact thatbetween .the variable speed gear and the differential a multi-partcoupling is. provided. which has two parts driven at constant butmutually differing speeds and a part driven at the speed of thevariator, the last-named part. being. fitted by means of a controlscrewthread to the. shaft which transmits thespeed of the variator anddriving a variable portion of the differential via helical-tooth. spurgear thehelical design of whose teeth produces the necessarybearingpressure of the clutches. The arrangement is such that the part of thecou'- Zurich, Switzerland, assignor to Machine Tool WorksOerlikornAdministration: Gompany, Zurich-Oerllkon, Switzerland, acompany of Switzerland Application July 6, 1949, Serial No."103',1.86'In Switzerland July 12,1948

pling which transmits the Variable. speed-couples according to the speedto be transmitted, andito.

the infinitely variable gear device;

Fig. 4 is a section. through the .gear device reduced to one plane;

Fig. 5 is a section along the line I-I inFig. 4.; and

Fig. 6 is a section along the. line 11-11 in In Fig. 1, l is the gunwhich is mounted'in a gun-mount 3 rotatably arranged on a base .2. Underthe seat 4 of the gunner is arranged. the

gearbox 5 for the movement of the gun. in train and in elevation. Themovements in train and in elevation are controlled by the control lever6. The shaft 1 emerging from the gearbox 5 drives, via worm 8, theworm-wheel segment 9 to move the gun in elevation. The further shaft inemerging from the gearbox 5 actuates', via the worm H, a worm-wheel [2to move the gun in train. I3 is the drive motor.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the gear device in diagrammatic form, inwhich, as also in Figs. 5 and 6, the engagement of the gearwheels isshown, whilst'Fig. 4 shows the gear device in section reduced to oneplane. The power unit. may for instance be an electric. motor l3, or ofcourse any other source of power. The motor l3 drives a shaft I4 mountedin the gearbox 5 not shown in Fig. 3; Arranged one behind the other onthe shaft l4 and rigidly keyed thereto are the cone 15, the spur gear l6and the spur gear H. The connecting or transmission roller 1'8,mountedin a fork l9, bears against the cone [5. Fork [9 is mounted onthe spindle 20 which is in turn so mounted in the gearbox 5 as to beaxially displaceable. The connecting or trans.- mission roller is alsoruns on a cone 2| rigidly keyed to the shaft 22 mounted in the gearbox5. So mounted on shaft 22 as to be freely rotatableare the spur gear 23,the spur gear 24v and the inner part 25 of the clutch, said inner partcarrying a portion of the pack of plates. In Fig.3, spur gear 23 and 24and part 25 of the clutch are shown as separate units, but, as maybeseen from Fig. 4, these three parts 23-25 may also be made integral. Theshaft 22 is provided with a control screw-thread 26 which fits into acorresponding screw-thread in the part 21 of the clutch driven at avariable speed. Said output portion 21 of the clutch is provided with apart 28 bearing plates engaging between the plates of part 25 of theclutch. Also provided is a toothed rim 29 engaging with spur gear 30.

By means of a part 31 of similar design to part 28 and likewise carryingplates, the output portion 21 of the clutch engages with a likewisedriven part 32 of the clutch. Part 32 of the clutch is, in turn, somountedon shaft 22 as to be freely movable. Said part 32 of the clutchis provided with teeth 33 with which engages spur gear 34, the latterbeing so mounted on shaft 35 as to be freely movable. As may be seenfrom Fig. 4, spur gear 34 is coupled to a spur gear 36 which engageswith spur'gear l1. Mounted so as to be freely mobile on the spindle 35rigidly fitted in the gearbox 5 is, further, the spur. gear 31, whichmeshes on the one hand with the spur gear I6 and on the other with thespur gear 23.

Spur gear 33, which meshes with the teeth 29 in the output portion ofthe clutch, is so mounted on shaft 38 as to be freely mobile. The spurgear 30 constitutes, as Fig. 4 shows, the planet pinion carrier of thedifferential in which the sun gear 30 is fitted. The sungear 39 isdriven by the shaft 38, the latter being driven via spur gear 40, whichmeshes with spur gear 2 5. The planet pinions 4! are, in accordance withknown practice in the construction of differential gears, mounted in theplanet pinion carrier (spur gear 30). The output sun gear 42 is mountedon the output shaft 43 on which a reversing gear is also provided (seeFig. 4; not shown in Fig. 3), said reversing gear comprising, inaccordance with known practice, the two bevel gears 6-1 and 45 and abevel gear 43 arranged therebetween. An engageable and disengageableplate clutch 41, by the operation of which the shaft '5 or E is eithercoupled direct to shaft 43 or coupled indirectly thereto via bevel gears44, 45 and 45, is provided between bevel gears 44 and 5.

The operation of the gears described and illustrated is as follows:

The power unit l3 (internal combustion engin, electric motor,compressed-air motor or the like) drives a mainshaft M, which turns at aspeed of for example 3000 R. P. M. The spur gear I6 rigidly mounted onthe mainshaft l4 drives, via the spur gear 3? rotatably mounted on theintermediate gearsha-ft 35, the pair of spur gears 23 and 2 designed asthe primary side of the driving half of the clutch. The transmissionratio between spur gear I and the spur gears 23 and 24, the latter beingmade integral, is 1:1,1i. e., this primary side likewise exhibits aspeed of 11:3000 R. P. M. Spur gear 24 drives spur gear 40 of thedifferential drive shaft 38 with a transmission ratio of 1:2. The spurgear ll rigidly mounted on the mainshaft l4 drives, via the intermediategears ,36 and 34 rotatably mounted on the intermediate gearshaft 35, thespur gear 33, which is designed as portion 32 of the clutch, with atransmission ratio of for example n=3:4, so that clutch part 32 assumesa speed of 2250 R. P. M. Clutch parts 28 and 3|.

are incorporated as a single unit, namely, the spur jgear 29, which isdesigned as a nut axially displaceable on the screw thread 26. Theclutches ;can, as shown by way of example in the drawing (Fig. 4), bedesigned as plate clutches,

, necessary bearing pressure.

L. Clutch body 2'! must assume the speed of shaft 22, otherwise thescrew-thread 26 will, if said body 21 lag behind, move same towards the(11:3000 R. P. M.) side of the clutch and, if said body 21 forges ahead,move same towards the n=2250 R. P. M.) side of the clutch bringing itinto contact until it has assumed the speed of shaft 22. The necessarybearing pressure of the clutches is produced by the helical toothing ofthe spure gears 29 and 33. Said helical toothing is such that the axialcomponent produced by thetangential or peripheral force supplies theShaft 22 is therefore called upon to transmit a small control forceonly, and screw-thread 26 is not self-locking, so that no seizing cantake place in the event of sudden changes in rotary speed, as forexample when decelerating.

Gone 21 is driven by the cone I5 mounted on the mainshaft !4 via afriction roller H! which is mounted in a fork it? supported on arotatable spindle 20, the speed of cone 2! being variable within therange of for example 2250 and 3000 R. P. M. The spur gear 29 will adjustitself to this speed. The speed rang-e of the spur gear 30 engagingwithspur gear 29 will, in accordance with the ratio of 1:3 quoted by wayof example, lie between 750 and 1000 R. P. M. If, therefore, the sungear 39 driven through shaft 3.8 by spur gear 40 rotates at a speed ofn=15 00 R. P. M. and the spur gear 30 rotates .at n '750 R. P. M., therotating planet pinions 4| will revolve upon each other in such a Waythat output sun gear 42 will remain motionless. At a speed s of n=1500R. P. M. of the sun gear 33and n=l000 R. P. M. of the spur gear 30carrying the planet pinions 4i, a speedof n=500 R. P. M. will result inthe output sun gear 42. Thus it is possible to vary thespeed of theoutput sun gear 42 from nil to +500 R. P. M. 1

Reversal of the direction of rotation is achieved by a reversing gearlocated outside thegearbox 5. A middle clutch sleeve 41 of a doubleclutch, which sleeve is axially displaceable on the shaft 43 rigidlyconnected to output sun gear 52, and which double clutch is radiallyconnected to shaft 43 by a key, is brought into engagement to one.

side or the/other as may be desired. If, for instance, the clutch sleeve4'! is engaged towards the side of the pack of plates of bevel gear 44,the turning moment is transmitted via the bevel gears 44, 43and 45, andthe output shaft 1. or II] will then assume a direction of rotationcon-v trary to that of shaft 43. engaged in the direction of the pack ofplates of bevel gear 45, the turning movement will be transmitteddirect, i. e., the direction of rotation of output shaft 1 or it] willbe the same as that of shaft 43. It would also be possible to achievethe alteration in the direction of rotation by suitable selection of therange of regulation, but. in this case the maximum losses'resulting fromthe turning moment multiplied by the maximum dif-.. ference in rotary.speed wouldbe correspondingly greater. By the reversing gear described,the losses can by simple means be reduced to half. These losses areless, for example, than those occurring with hydraulic drives. i

Since the centre of rotation of friction roller I8, when said roller isdisplaced, must likewise be displaced in accordancewith the taper ofcones l5 and 2!, said friction roller I8. is mounted in ,a fork [9 somounted as to pivot about the centre of rotation of spindle 20. Toenable friction roller I8 to be adjusted to the necessary bearmgpres -1If clutch sleeve 41is sure, the spindle 20 is mounted in adjustableeccentric bushes 20.

The gears are branched ofi, from mainshaft it, to two sides for themovement in elevation and the movement in train respectively, and thetwo output shafts I and II! respectively drive, for example, the wormwheels 9 and 12 for movement in elevation and movement in trainrespectively.

Needless to say, instead of the friction wheel gear, other types ofvariators, such as hydraulic, electric, pneumatic or mechanical gearsmay be used. The plate clutches may be replaced by other clutches ofknown design.

I claim:

1. An infinitely variable gear for driving gunmounts, comprising adriving shaft, a speed variator operatively connected with said drivingshaft, a multi-part clutch comprising three clutch parts, meansconnecting the first and second of said three clutch parts with saiddriving shaft for driving them at constant.but mutually differingspeeds, a shaft connected with said speed variator and driven thereby,said shaft having a threaded portion, the third clutch part beingmounted upon said threaded portion, and being actuated by said speedvariator to couple with either the first clutch part or the secondclutch part, a helical gearing connected with said third clutch part anddriven thereby, a difierential having a planetary pinion connected withsaid helical gearing and driven thereby and a sun gear meshing with saidplanetary pinion; means connecting said driving shaft with said sun gearfor driving the latter with a constant speed, an output shaft, and meansconnecting said output shaft with said differential.

2. An infinitely variable gear for driving gunmounts as claimed in claim1, characterized by the fact that the speed variator consists of twotaper rollers and a transmission roller interconnecting said taperrollers.

3. An infinitely variable gear for driving gunmounts as claimed in claim1, characterized by the fact that the clutch is a plate clutch.

4. An infinitely variable gear for driving gunmounts 'as claimed inclaim 1, characterized by the fact that said threaded portion is notselflocking.

5. An infinitely variable gear for driving gunmounts as claimed in claim1, characterized by the fact that the helical toothing of said helicalgearing is not self-locking.

6. An infinitely variable gear for driving gunmounts as claimed in claim1, characterized by the fact that the transmission ratios of the gearsare so selected that the output shaft emerging from the differentialrotates in one direction only between zero and maximum speeds and that areversing gear is provided for reversing the direction of rotation up tothe maximum speed in the other direction of rotation.

'7. An infinitely variable gear for driving gunmounts as claimed inclaim 1, characterized by the fact that a single source of power isprovided for driving the elevating and training gears.

RUDOLF STADEL-MANN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,178,859 Jett Nov. '7, 19392,216,190 Erban Oct. 1, 1940 2,404,907 Heynau July 30, 1946

